Token-Curated Registries vs Proof-of-Personhood for Whitelisting

Token-Curated Registries (TCRs) excel at creating high-stakes, economically-aligned whitelists because they use financial skin-in-the-game to deter bad actors. For example, the AdChain registry required a 100,000 ADT stake (worth ~$10K at launch) for entry, creating a costly barrier for spam. This model is proven for high-value, low-throughput applications like domain verification or ad fraud lists, where the cost of a false positive is significant.

Proof-of-Personhood (PoP) systems like Worldcoin or BrightID take a different approach by verifying unique human identity, decoupling cost from participation. This results in a critical trade-off: near-zero marginal cost for legitimate users (ideal for mass airdrops or universal basic income) but introduces centralization risks in the verification oracle and ongoing challenges with privacy and global accessibility.

The key trade-off: If your priority is economic security and decentralized curation for a high-value list, choose a TCR. If you prioritize scalable, low-cost access for a global user base where human uniqueness is the primary gate, a PoP system is superior. The decision hinges on whether you are filtering for quality (TCR) or uniqueness (PoP).

Token-Curated Registries (TCRs) excel at creating a high-stakes, economically secure whitelist because they require participants to stake valuable capital. This aligns incentives and makes Sybil attacks prohibitively expensive. For example, the Kleros TCR for the Uniswap token list requires staking PNK tokens, creating a robust, decentralized curation layer where malicious listings are financially penalized. This model is proven for high-value, low-frequency applications like oracle lists or protocol registries where the cost of a bad actor is high.

Proof-of-Personhood (PoP) takes a different approach by verifying unique human identity, often through biometrics or social graph analysis. This results in a fundamental trade-off: it achieves massive scalability and zero-cost participation for users, as seen with Worldcoin's Orb verification or BrightID's social attestations, but introduces centralization risks around the identity issuer and potential privacy concerns. The throughput is limited by verification speed, not blockchain gas fees, enabling whitelists for millions of users in applications like universal basic income (UBI) or large-scale airdrops.

The key trade-off: If your priority is decentralized, cryptoeconomic security and censorship resistance for a high-value list, choose a TCR. If you prioritize mass user onboarding, zero user cost, and maximum scalability, choose a PoP system. For a governance whitelist on an L1 like Ethereum, a TCR is superior. For a consumer app's loyalty program on a high-TPS chain like Solana, a PoP solution is likely the better fit.